DA allots P57 M for Benguet aggie projects

BY DEXTER A SEE

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The Department of Agriculture has earmarked additional P57 million to fund implementation infrastructure projects on different towns in the province.

The projects are aimed at helping thousands of farmers improve vegetable production to enable them to compete in both the local and international markets.

Ricardo Cachuela, director of the DA’s Bureau of Post Harvest Research and Extension bared this.

He said the new set of vital agricultural infrastructure projects is the agency’s inaugural gift to the new provincial and municipal officials who started serving their three-year term last June 30.

It was learned three more cold chain facilities costing a total of P45 million are expected to commence construction in three towns of this vegetable-producing province to help preserve the quality of crops to the different outlets in the country.

Earlier, the DA had assured its all-out support for the establishment of cold chain facilities in the municipal of Atok, Tublay, and Buguias to ensure the freshness of the vegetable produce when these are delivered from the farms to the market.

The DA officials noted the distance from the town proper to the trading post area.

The facilities will be funded under the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund.

Cachuela said that the additional cold chain projects would complement fruit-and-vegetable-processing and packaging plant at the La Trinidad post.

The plant is expected to be fully operational next month.

Furthermore, a pre-cooling and packaging center costing over P2 million was also constructed in Buguias. The plant can process at least 12 tons of carrots daily.

Also in the pipeline are six tramlines costing P10 million. To be constructed in the towns of Atok, Bakun, Buguias, Kibungan, Tublay and Mankayan in the next few months, the tramlines are expected to facilitate the transport of agricultural crops from the farms to the market even during rainy season during which almost all main roads in the province are frequently closed due to landslides and soil erosions.

However, a number of farmers doubt the viability of the cold chain facilities being offered by the government to them, saying that they feared that such facilities would become “white elephants” in the future like the multi-million-peso cold chain facility constructed in 2002. Its operation is still losing due to the expensive cost being charged to them.